Obama’s Cautious Terror Speech Extols Mumbai

Like much of his trip here, U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech at the Taj was parsed for what he didn’t say, as much as for what he did.

AP Photo

U.S. President Barack Obama made a statement after visiting the 26/11 Memorial at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel on Saturday.

He didn’t mention Pakistan—but then no one could realistically have expected that given the sensitivities involved. He didn’t even issue stern warnings to states that harbor terrorism, without naming them, a fact that was the first point television commentators noted immediately after the speech.

At the very start, it seemed like he might go in that direction.

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Mr. Obama began by saying that many people had asked whether making his first stop “this dynamic city at this historic city” was in order to send a message.

“My answer is simply: Absolutely,” said the President. “We’ll never forget the awful images of 26/11 including the flames from this hotel that lit up the night sky.”

But from then on he focused mainly on the city’s heroism and on a point that no one in India could quibble with (except perhaps the residents of Delhi) – Mumbai’s special position as India’s “city of dreams.”

“The murderers came to kill innocent civilians that day but those of you here risked everything to save human lives,” said Mr. Obama. “Those who attacked this city wanted to demoralize this city and this country but they failed because the very next day Mumbaikars came back to work, hotel staff reported for their shifts, workers returned to their businesses, and within weeks this hotel was once again welcoming guests from around the world.”

(Before anyone raises this point – he also referred to the gunmen as terrorists. Twice.)

“Today the United States and India are working together more closely than ever to keep our people safe. I look forward to deepening our counter-terrorism cooperation even further when I meet with Prime Minister Singh in Delhi,” he said.

A commentator on the Times Now channel didn’t like the way Mr. Obama referred to the terrorists. “He spoke as if the perpetrators of 26/11 were some unknown people,” the commentator said, when it has been widely established they were sent by the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The President then spoke to the commonalities of India and the U.S., positioning that largely as a shared sense of aspiration.

“We seek to build, to welcome people of different faiths and backgrounds and offer our citizens a future of dignity and opportunity,” he said. “That is the hope in towns and villages across India, across this vast nation that leads people to board crowded trains and set out to forge their futures for this city of dreams. And that is the shared determination of India and the United States–two partners that will never waver in their defense of their people.”

A survivor of the Taj attacks seemed a little skeptical of the speech.

“He made the right point and he said the right thing. The only question to ask is how much of this will actually translate into concrete action,” said a Mumbai attack survivor said on NDTV.

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